The reason why the now fashionable “thank you, Pfizer!” is so jarring is that we’ve all been sick, some of us quite seriously. We’ve recovered, often thanks to medication of some sort. People have had surgeries, requiring an anaesthetic. But have you ever seen people express thanks to pharmaceutical companies?
Moreover, we all eat. Does anybody thank the companies producing food? Surely, food is more crucial than the COVID vaccine.
A farmer or a doctor, I get it. They are people. But a company?
“Brushed my teeth this morning. Thank you, Colgate! Wiped my butt. Thanks, Charmin!” It’s weird. I have experienced life without toilet paper and toothpaste, and it sucked. Still, I’m not ready to glorify the companies that make them.
haha! Come to think of it, I did send a thank-you note (via email, nothing fancy) to PoH (Perfect Oral Health, in Oklahoma) the last time I ordered toothbrushes for the family. It’s one of those things I bulk-buy, so now we have enough for like three years. I was so relieved to find them, as they meet all my criteria: made in the US, don’t include ridiculous amounts of excess plastic (what is with those giant bulky toothbrush handles, anyway?), and they pay their employees instead of spending $$$ on advertising. I genuinely like them!
I make my own tooth powder, though 😉
I really can’t see thanking P&G for anything. I get it. But since you bring it up, “Do I want to thank the manufacturer?” is not a bad criteria for choosing products. Not gonna work for everything, but, you know… It’s a safe bet PoH treats its employees and its community better than whoever’s making their competitors’ toothbrushes over in China. When I used to pick up colgate or OralB or whatever, I kind of cringed at the unnecessary plastic waste, the horrible bubble packaging, the offloading of pollution onto strangers in China to be price-competitive while also enriching corporate CEO moguls and funding big $$$ ad campaigns, the exploitation of possibly-unwilling Chinese labor… those were not companies I had any desire to thank. I’m glad I found an alternative.
I remember a campaign in school to thank miners and raise awareness of the mining industry. The slogan was “I am a miner, who is more?” A student answered “Two miners!” and, predictably, got in loads of trouble.
But I guess you were not asking about four decades old anecdotes from a socialist totalitarian regime…
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A conservative literary critic and college professor
Clarissa's Blog 
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